Students Vivek Garg, Armin Ghyara, Rajaram Kamble and Sucheta Puri have partnered with Sunnyside Neighborhood Association to develop and implement a marketing plan to help sell the association’s “In the Peace Garden” book. Through this classroom project, students are gaining hands on real-world experience by working with a local client and learning the intricacies and nuances of implementing a marketing plan that will include organizing events and social media promotion.

Sucheta Puri, project manager for the team, explained: “Our team wanted to help children in the local community. We found out about the peace garden community project and decided this was the one for us!”

The “In the Peace Garden” book was written by Beki Quintero, president of the Sunnyside Neighborhood Association. It is a children’s alphabet book that depicts the joys children experience while playing and working in the garden.

Quintero, a passionate community organizer, recognized that children in her neighborhood were exposed to violence, vandalism, lack of exercise, and clean parks to play in. When Quintero first started working with the children, she would get them together on weekends and they would paint over vandalism to beautify their community. But Quintero knew this was not enough and wanted to give the children something they could call their own. So, with the children’s help, she began the Peace Garden, which created an environment for children “to be in partnership with nature, seeking to build a strong foundation with the environment, while discouraging criminal activity among youth.”

Over the years, the Peace Garden has developed into a safe place for children to learn about the joys of gardening and sustainability while also promoting community advocacy and physical activity.